1. Hwan Bae

The 19-year-old entered Australia’s Olympics table tennis qualification event in Ballarat in May as an outsider, ranked not much better than 300 in the world and 14th in Australia.

Along his unlikely path to victory, Bae overcame two 2022 Commonwealth Games team members despite trailing in both matches. He again rallied from three sets to one down in the final to win the tournament and secure his Paris place.

Bae will be joined in Paris by two other 19-year-olds on the Australian team, Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu. The three have played each other since the under 13 national championships.

2. Breiana Whitehead

Kite foiling is making its Olympic debut this year as part of the sailing program, and Whitehead is in contention for a medal. She was 11th at the 2023 World Championships in The Hague, and improved to finish fifth at this year’s event in Hyeres, France – just 50km east of where the Games events will be held off the Marseille coast.

The 24-year-old progressed through smaller conventional sailing craft in her youth before taking to the kite foil, which is the fastest sport at the Olympics and one in which athletes can be pulled by their kites at speeds of more than 50kmh.

3. Genevieve van Rensburg

Modern pentathlon, one of the Olympics’ endearing oddities, is in a period of transition. The sport – which has traditionally combined fencing, freestyle swimming, show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running – has dropped the equestrian event and replaced it with obstacle racing for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

Van Rensburg, 20, grew up riding horses and swimming, but a meeting with 2016 Olympic gold medal winner Chloe Esposito six years ago guided her towards modern pentathlon. She has also become one of Australia’s best fencers, winning this year’s national women’s épée title.

4. Tina Rahimi

The 28-year-old – who will become Australia’s first Muslim boxer to compete at the Olympics – recruited a mindset coach in the lead-up to Paris. She had recognised she struggled with confidence and was too hard on herself, even after winning a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Rahimi will be able to compete in her hijab in Paris, though the headscarf is banned for French athletes. “It should not get in the way of you being an athlete,” she said on social media this week. “It’s so hard for you to be an Olympic athlete, and to think you have to give away your faith to participate in these events, I believe everyone should be equal.”

5. Jean Mitchell

The promising junior rower felt throbbing in the back of her head at age 16. Initially she dismissed it as sore muscles, but when her vision blurred and her balance left her, she sought medical help. An MRI confirmed she had a brain tumour.

The teenager underwent surgery – which left a large scar up the back of her neck – as well as radiation and chemotherapy, and it was two years before she could return to rowing.

The Victorian won selection for Australia two years ago, finishing fifth at the 2022 World Championships in the women’s eight. A step back in 2023 saw Mitchell miss the Australian team, but the 24-year-old won a place this year in the women’s four for Paris.

6. Ruby Pass

The shock injury in May to Georgia Godwin, Australia’s long-time gymnastics standard-bearer, put a dampener on preparations for Paris. The women’s team had qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2012.

Ruby Pass helped lift spirits at the nationals in the wake of Godwin’s injury, winning four gold medals in the space of an hour and half and becoming Australian all around champion for the first time. The Queenslander only turned 17 in the days after the competition.

7. Leon Sejranovic

Taekwondo at these Games will take place in the Grand Palais, Paris’ spectacular historic exhibition hall. Of Australia’s three representatives, Sejranovic carries greatest expectation.

The 22-year-old won bronze at last year’s World Championships in Azerbaijan, securing Australia’s first senior worlds medal in 10 years. The wait for an Olympics medal is even longer, going back 24 years to Sydney 2000.

The Melbourne resident has juggled university and three jobs, including working at Subway, and he will be an underdog in the competition. He has had to put on weight to compete in Paris’ 80kg class, given his usual 74kg division isn’t included at the Olympics.

8. Josh Azzopardi

The title of Australia’s fastest man is currently held by sprinter Rohan Browning, after his 10.01s in Tokyo. The 26-year-old’s modest form this year left him in danger of missing out on selection in the individual event for Paris, but his ticket was confirmed earlier this month.

One man who initially did miss out was Azzopardi, before an injury to another athlete opened up a place. The 24-year-old from Sydney has a PB of 10.14s, run at a meet in Switzerland in June, and was the first Australian to beat Browning in six years when he ran a wind-assisted 10.06s in January.

Paris will be the first time since Sydney 2000 that two Australians will contest the men’s individual 100m at an Olympics.

9. Eileen Cikamatana

The first woman to win Commonwealth Games gold for two countries, weightlifting’s Cikamatana is making her Olympic debut in Paris. She finished first in the 90kg weightlifting in 2018 on the Gold Coast before a dispute within Fiji’s weightlifting saw her pursue an allegiance with Australia.

That process ruled her ineligible for the Tokyo Games, making the 24-year-old’s debut in Paris – after winning Commonwealth Games gold for her adopted nation in Birmingham – heavily anticipated. She now competes in the 81kg class.

10. Luke Willian

After being overlooked by selectors for the Tokyo Games, the 27-year-old triathlete appears to be peaking just in time for Paris. He booked his Olympic debut with bronze at the World Triathlon Championship Series event in Yokohama in May where he finished behind second-placed Matt Hauser, a fellow Queenslander.

The pair are well positioned to end one of Australian sport’s less auspicious records. Since triathlon was introduced into the Olympics in 2000, an Australian man has never stood on the podium, despite the country’s strong reputation in the sport, and five female medallists over that time.